1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for removing fluid matter that drains or spills onto the floor during a surgical procedure. More particularly, the invention relates to a disposable foot-manipulated suction head and hose attachment adapted for use with suction sources commonly available in surgical operating rooms.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
During the course of surgery, and particularly during arthroscopic surgery, waste fluids of various types find their way to the floor of the operating room. Specifically, during arthroscopic surgery sterile fluid (e.g., saline) is supplied to the surgical site as a distension medium for the joint. This fluid, if permitted to drain uncontrolled to the floor, presents a safety hazard in that operating room personnel are likely to slip and fall. The possible contamination of the fluid presents an additional hazard.
A prior art approach toward solving this problem is disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,679,590 and 4,729,404. These patents disclose a rubber mat adapted for placement beneath a surgical site in sealed engagement with the floor. The top surface of the mat is configured as multiple inverted pyramidal elements configured to collect fluid and direct it to a drain hole on the bottom side of the mat. The bottom side of the mat is provided with flow channels that become sealed to the floor and converge to a common suction port adapted for connection to a source of suction that is commonly available at wall-mounted suction ports in surgical operating rooms. The suction delivers the recovered fluid to a canister for disposal.
Although the suction mat arrangement described above adequately removes fluid that falls on the mat, it cannot drain the rather significant amount of fluid that falls to the floor beyond the mat periphery. During arthroscopic surgery the sterile fluid delivered to the surgical site is often delivered at relatively high pressures, thereby making it difficult, if not impossible, for surgical personnel to direct the fluid so that, after flowing from the surgical site, it falls on the suction mat.
There are commercially available vacuum cleaners with movable suction heads adapted to draw liquid from floors toward a waste collection chamber. These devices, however, are not suitable for surgical environments for a number of reasons, not the least of which is the fact that the vacuum cleaner suction head must be manipulated by hand in order to be positioned at various spillage locations on the floor. Since the hands of operating room personnel are otherwise occupied during a surgical procedure, the use of a commercial vacuum cleaner would require additional personnel, thereby adding to the already high cost of surgery. Moreover, commercially available vacuum cleaners have built-in vacuum sources that are extremely noisy, thereby rendering communication between the surgeon and nurses difficult at best. It would be far more desirable to use a low level suction source (e.g., on the order of 300 millimeters of mercury below atmospheric pressure) such as is commonly available at a wall port in operating rooms; however, suction heads employed with commercial vacuum cleaners are incapable of operating at such low pressures.
Finally, the fluids that spill onto the floor during a surgical procedure are likely to be or become contaminated. Commercially available vacuum cleaner heads for liquids are not designed to be disposable after use and, accordingly, would become contaminated and present a health hazard.